NASA’s Artemis II Orion capsule returns to Kennedy Space Center after historic Moon mission

The Orion capsule from NASA’s Artemis II mission has returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida following the first crewed journey to the Moon in more than five decades.

The spacecraft carried astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen, and has now been moved to processing facilities for detailed inspection and analysis.

According to NASA, technicians will begin de-servicing operations to safely remove remaining propellants and extract key components. This process includes retrieving onboard data, removing avionics systems for potential reuse, and examining payloads from the crew module.

Engineers will also conduct extensive analysis of the capsule’s heat shield and other critical structures to better understand how the spacecraft performed during its mission. The findings are expected to help refine procedures and design plans for future Artemis flights.

The Orion capsule launched on April 1 and returned to Earth on April 10, completing a milestone mission that advances NASA’s efforts to establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon.